Could cannabis users’ preference for solo smoke sessions help slow the spread of coronavirus and keep the legal weed business afloat during the current pandemic? If you ask one market analyst, it’s got a better shot than booze.
According to Investors Business Daily, a new research study from MKM Partners analyst Bill Kirk, cannabis users are far more likely to self isolate while enjoying their favorite intoxicant than alcohol drinkers. And with disease control experts calling on citizens around the globe to practice social distancing as a means to slow the spread of COVID-19, stoners are thus more likely to be alone without much fuss or risk of going stir-crazy.
“The vice of choice when alone is cannabis. The vice of choice in large groups or with new people is alcohol,” Kirk said. “We believe any increased stay-at-home activity related to COVID-19 will accelerate the vice share shift away from alcohol toward cannabis.”
In a survey of 1,000 cannabis users and 863 alcohol drinkers, 68% of pot consumers told Kirk that they prefer marijuana over alcohol when alone. And when it comes time to party, only 27% of weed users said they like to consume in big groups, compared to 57% of booze consumers.
This isn’t the first time research has indicated that cannabis users are good at being alone. One recent study showed that nearly a third of pot users prefer to toke solo, while others found that cannabis can be a cure for loneliness, even without the help of friends.
For Kirk, whose work is focused on the business side of the cannabis world, the isolationist tendencies of pot users will hopefully expand past the couch, with consumers in legal states using delivery services and making dispensary visits between self-quarantines.
Of course, with most of American life still operating normally, the isolationist hypotheses may seem extreme to some. But with circumstances worsening by the day, it’s never a bad idea to have your favorite strain on hand.
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